At least 14 people have been killed and scores of others injured in violent protests in Kathmandu against alleged government corruption and a new social media ban, state TV reported.

Police fired live ammunition, tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets as thousands of young demonstrators tried to storm parliament.

Protesters pushed through barbed wire and forced riot police to retreat as they surrounded the parliament building. 

Police were outnumbered and sought safety inside the parliament complex, before eventually opening fire.

“The police have been firing indiscriminately,” one protester told the ANI news agency.

“(They) fired bullets which missed me but hit a friend who was standing behind me. He was hit in the hand.”

More than 50 people were injured, Nepal Television said.

The army has been deployed, and a curfew has been imposed around Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s residence and government precinct.

Smoke covers a person standing in front of a row of police with shields.

Riot police clashed with protesters in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Monday. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)

The unrest follows Nepal’s move last week to block access to platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube, after companies failed to register with authorities in a crackdown on alleged misuse.

“Stop the ban on social media, stop corruption not social media,” the crowds chanted, waving the red and blue national flags.

About two dozen social network platforms that are widely used in Nepal were repeatedly given notices to register their companies officially in the country, the government said. 

Those which failed to register have been blocked since last week.

TikTok, Viber and three other platforms have registered and operate without interruption.

A person stands on top of a truck with camo print, surrounded by a crowd.

The rally has been called the protest of Gen Z, generally refering to people born between 1995 and 2010. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)

Organisers of the protests, which spread to other cities in the Himalayan country, have called them “demonstrations by Gen Z”. 

They say the protests reflect young people’s widespread frustration with the government and anger over its policies.

Thousands of young people, including students, many in their school or college uniforms, joined the protest earlier on Monday.

The unrest came as the government sent a bill for debate in parliament that wants to ensure that social platforms are “properly managed, responsible and accountable”. 

It includes asking the companies to appoint a liaison office or point in the country.

The bill has been widely criticised as a tool for censorship and punishing government opponents who voice their protests online. 

Rights groups have called it an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and violate fundamental rights.

About 90 per cent of Nepal’s 30 million people use the internet.

Nepal in 2023 banned video-sharing app TikTok for disrupting “social harmony, goodwill and diffusing indecent materials”. 

The ban was lifted last year after TikTok’s executives pledged to comply with local laws.

They include a ban of pornographic sites that was passed in 2018.

ABC/wires